Paa Kwesi dismisses reports six players have been dropped

Ghana U-17 coach, Paa Kwesi Fabin has dismissed reports six players have been excluded from the team preparing for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India.

Regulars, Emmanuel Toku, Danlad Ibrahim, Gabriel Leveh, Faisal Osman, Rashid Alhassan and Najeed Yakubu were missing from the 25-man roster which began camping at the Ghanaman Soccer of Excellence in Prampram.

It had been rumored the players were either over-aged or had fallen out with the technical team but Coach Fabin has categorically denied those claims.

According to the former Hearts and Kotoko trainer, the initial phase is to introduce new faces in the squad to give them a chance to prove themselves in a bid to improve the competitiveness of the team.

''We want to use a week to look at some new players that we have got, so we have asked them [six players dropped] to stay in the house for a week and we have given them training programs so that after the week that we have seen the new ones, we select and send those we don't need home and the players dropped will come and join on Sunday so that we start the full-scale preparation,'' Fabin told Joy Sports

''They haven't been dropped. In fact, they are our key players,'' he added. Ghana finished second in Gabon and will find out their opponents for the World Cup on July 9 in India.